Midland College/Midland High School Dual Credit Syllabus
Fall 2013
ENGL 2322--British Literature I
Instructor: Ellen Boyd, ellen.boyd@midlandisd.net
Room 207
Tutorials: Monday-Friday 8:00-8:25 a.m.
Conference: M-F, 9:30-10:10 a.m.
Course Description:
3 Hours (3-0)
A survey of the development of British literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to the
Eighteenth Century. Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama and fiction in
relation to their historical, linguistic and cultural contexts. Texts will be selected from a
diverse group of authors and traditions. Course assignments will include a minimum of
6,000 words of writing. Prerequisite: Composition II or equivalent.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
1. Demonstrate familiarity with literary periods and their legacy of important ideas.
2. Identify key ideas, representative authors and works, significant historical and
cultural events, and characteristic perspectives and attitudes expressed in the
literature of different periods or regions.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of literary works as expressions of individual and
human values within the social, political, cultural, and religious contexts of
different literary periods.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of major genres and forms of literature.
5. Understand the development of characteristic forms and styles of expression
during different historical periods and in different regions.
6. Develop an appreciation for the aesthetic principles that guide the scope and
variety of works in the arts and humanities.
7. Analyze and synthesize aesthetic, historical, formal, and ideological approaches to
interpreting literature through class discussion, presentations, written assignments,
and exams.
8. Articulate an informed personal reaction to works in the arts and humanities.
9. Produce critical essays about the assigned reading that support a debatable thesis,
utilize primary and secondary sources, document and cite those sources according
to MLA style, express ideas in clear and grammatically correct prose, and be free
of plagiarism.
Texts:
Arp, Thomas and Greg Johnson, eds. Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense,
10th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.
Holt McDougal Literature: British Literature, Texas Edition. Evanston: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., 2010.
In addition to the above textbooks, the following major works will be read as time
permits, and while copies will be made available to all students, it is preferred each
student purchase their own.
Epic Poetry
Anonymous
Beowulf (this is in the textbook)
Non-Fiction
Thomas C. Foster
How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Summer Reading)
Fiction
Geoffrey Chaucer
Jonathan Swift
The Canterbury Tales
Gulliver’s Travels
Dramas
Sophocles
William Shakespeare
Oedipus Rex (Summer Reading)
Hamlet
Homework and Essays
Students in my class should expect homework several days each week in the form of
reading and writing. All essays will be typewritten in the Modern Language
Association (MLA) format using Times New Roman font size 12 with 1” margins,
and MSWord document format. No other type, size, or word processing format will
be accepted. Handwritten homework essays will not be accepted. In-class timed
writings will be hand written in blue/black ink following standard manuscript form.
Grading
The grading system for my course is as follows for Midland High School credit:
Major Grades: 60% (Essays, Projects, and Tests), three major grades each six weeks
Minor Grades: 40% (Timed Writings, AP Practice Questions, Literature Circles, Quizzes,
Warm-ups, Dialectical Journals, and other Journaling, etc.), five minor grades each six
weeks
Note: Minor grades may not be redone or retaken; however, major grades submitted on
time and with apparent effort may be redone or retaken within five days of knowing the
original grade.
If you are taking my class dual credit for Midland College credit, your Midland College
and your Midland High School grade may be different. Your Midland High School grade
will follow the guidelines stated above. Your dual credit grade will be calculated as
follows and submitted to Midland College by semester:
 First Six Weeks Poetry analysis Paper #1 (due Sept. 23rd): 30%
 Second Six Weeks Poetry Compare/Contrast Paper #2 (due October 21st): 30%
 Research Paper (due November 25th): 30%
 All Minor Grades from the entire semester: 10%
Minor assignments will be assigned during class.
Disclaimer: Instructor reserves the privilege of modifying assignments or adjusting the
due dates as necessary, and will give reasonable notification of such changes.
Behavior
Two basic rules govern public behaviors in classroom situations: 1) respect 2)
cooperation. Disruptions of class activities should not occur; harassment of any kind is
not tolerated. Minor infractions of class or school rules will be discussed between the
student, teacher and parent when needed. Major infractions will be referred to
administration. Cell phones will be turned off and put away during class. Students not
complying with this policy will have their cell phone taken up and turned in to an
administrator. Students who refuse to surrender cell phones after teacher request will be
escorted to the office by an administrator.
Late Policy
Major essay and project assignments are submitted on the due date. Students with an
excused absence on this date will submit assignments upon his or her first day back to
class. Problems with technology or lack of ink in a printer will not be accepted as a
reason for submitting a late assignment. Tests should be made up within five days of
the absence. All late major assignments are subject to a lowering of the grade 10 points
each day (maximum 30 points) as in accordance with Midland High School late policy.
Major assignments turned in later than five school days will receive a grade no higher
than 50%.
Plagiarism and Collusion
Plagiarism—using another’s thoughts and accomplishments without proper
acknowledgement of documentation—is absolutely unacceptable. Students will receive a
0 for any and all plagiarized work. Similarly, students who copy assignments and those
who allow their work to be copied will also receive a 0 for the assignment. Additionally,
students/parents who revise or edit the work of a student, without teacher permission, are
considered participants of collusion.
Students with Disabilities
Midland College provides services for students with disabilities through Student
Services. In order to receive accommodations students must place documentation on file
with the Counselor/Disability Specialist. Students with disabilities should notify Midland
College prior to the beginning of each semester. Student Services will provide each
student with a letter outlining any reasonable accommodations. The student must present
the letter to the instructor at the beginning of the semester.
Grading Criteria for Formal Essays:
Your essays will be graded for content, organization, grammar, usage, spelling, collegelevel vocabulary, and technical competence as well as your use of Modern Language
Association (MLA) style and word-processing skills). Qualitative descriptions of each
grade follow:
A (superior essay) Exceptional work that uses imagination and actually does more than
called for in the assignment. Clear, concise, and free of errors of logic. Wellorganized and largely error-free. Handling of sources, MLA formatting, and research
techniques are superb.
B (excellent essay) Exceptional work with a minimum of difficulties of thought,
expression, organization, and formatting/research techniques.
C (good essay) Work which fulfills the assignment parameters and has an acceptable
number of technical difficulties.
F (poor essay) Work with a superficial (surface) treatment of topic, or a lack of focus, or
garbled prose, or frequent grammatical and mechanical errors, or weak organization,
or unacceptable formatting/research techniques.
R (re-write essay) Work with multiple redeeming qualities, but has serious deficiencies.
Based on Instructor comments, essay must be re-written and re-submitted within one
school week.
Zero (unacceptable essay) Work is plagiarized, or off-topic from the assignment prompt,
or clearly a minimal, last minute, half-hearted attempt to just turn in a paper. Based
on instructor comments, essay must be re-written and re-submitted within two class
days.
Unit One: The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods and An Introduction to Poetry
Summer Reading: Sophocles, Oedipus Rex and Thomas C. Foster, How to Read
Literature Like a Professor
Major Works:
Epic Poetry: Anonymous, Beowulf
Narrative: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
Excerpts from the McDougal Textbook: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte
d’Arthur
Students will bring the summer reading assignment to the first week of class after having
applied an historical/cultural, literary, biographical, social, psychological, political, or
philosophical/ moral perspective in an essay. Preliminary discussions about the basic
structures of forms of poetry will take place. Students will use dialectical journals to
record their responses to the poetry—figurative language, diction, repetition, imagery,
metaphor, symbolism, tone, etc., and develop their understanding of how these stylistic
devices function within the structure of poetry throughout the year. Listening and
speaking workshops will be conducted for the purpose of instructing students on the
proper delivery of a poem. Students will be assessed by their ability to create an original
poem applying the devices studied of British and American poets. Literature circles will
be established and continued for the duration of the school year. Literary selections will
be supplemented with timed writings and AP style questioning. Strategies including close
reading, annotation, dialectical journals, and graphic organizers will be highlighted.
Instruction will be provided on the writing process using various methods of revision and
editing and will continue throughout the course. Students will compose an essay
analyzing the effects of poetic devices in a poem.
Unit Two: The English Renaissance
Major Work: William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Students will carefully and critically see how William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a
reflection of historical change and human achievement in Britain. Students will use
writing journals, reader response papers, notes, and charts to record and reflect upon their
critical reading of the texts with additional emphasis on Humanist nonfiction, pastoral
poems and sonnets, spiritual and devotional writings, and metaphysical and cavalier
poets. Writers studied include: Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, Edmund
Spenser, William Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, Queen Elizabeth I, John Milton, John
Donne, Ben Jonson, and others. Elements of style will be studied and how an author’s
style enhances literature. Pre-Raphaelite paintings will be discussed and how they are
representative of characters in Hamlet. This unit of study will be supplemented with AP
timed writings using personal experience as evidence and a collaborative project
involving photo storytelling. Students will analyze poetry for literary technique and write
an analytical essay comparing and contrasting two of the pieces discussed in class.
Unit Three: The Restoration and the 18th Century
Major Work: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Students will analyze selected works, themes, structures, and styles of well-known
writers of nonfiction, satire, and biography from the Restoration and 18th century, as well
as rising women writers such as: Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope, Samuel
Johnson, Mary Wollstonecraft, etc. Students will use dialectical journals to record their
responses to their readings. Timed writings, AP style questioning and Literature Circles
continue to be practiced in class. Students will write a research paper for this unit.
Research Paper
Students will begin preparing for the research paper in October by selecting a British
writer and composing a biographical analysis of the writer and a number of his/her
works. Connections between the chosen writer and how his/her life experience is
represented within his/her body of work will be examined. Students will also submit an
annotated bibliography by researching, reading, and reporting on articles in the school
library related to their research proposal. They will apply MLA documentation to their
research work.